A day in Odaiba, Tokyo

Sunday was a fun-filled day.

Since I have been participating in the dance club, I was invited to go see the kids participate in a dance competition so we got to visit Odaiba for the first time. Odaiba is in the Tokyo Bay, near Rainbow bridge. There is a lot to see and do. Though it seems very geared towards families with kids.

The dance competition was at Ariake Coliseum which is next to a tennis park. There were dozens of talented teams participating and my school’s dance club was impressive as well. I’d been joining in during practice and saw how hard they trained. They were practicing every day for about 3 weeks, non-stop for 2 to 4 hours at a time – not including warm ups and stretching. They moved like a unit and their silver and purple outfits were pretty cool too. They won first place in their category (co-ed team), but they still didn’t qualify for nationals. It makes me wonder what the other teams did! The competition was from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm so needless to say, we didn’t stay for the whole thing. We came about an hour before they went on and left about 30 minutes after we saw them perform. We saw my chickens – as I call them – and we had plenty to explore!

After leaving the arena, we started walking towards the bay because we wanted to go see the life-size Gundam they have outside Diver City mall. The first stop, just 5 minutes after we started walking was the Panasonic Center! They had all kinds of things there! – 99% of which we were not allowed to take photos of. But we got to see the latest technology in heating, by using pressurized air; the highest quality televisions I’ve ever seen – Frozen was playing and it was like looking through a window at this real-life Elsa. We got to play Project Cars, a PC game that was just released and looks and handles like a real race car. I did surprisingly good! (Of course Fonzy went first and told me all the tricks before I started playing, but still!). The previous link has Fonzy’s review and some videos so you can see what I’m talking about.

We also saw a bedroom setup where a super high-definition TV was suspended above a bed cycling images of stars and space and the sky, but really watching a movie or playing a game like that would be awesome!! From there we went to the next floor where the Nintendo Front was. They had a couple of Wii U consoles for people to use, one with Mario Kart 8 and one with Kinopio (Toad)’s new game. We wanted to give Mario Kart a try, but the demo was about 20 minutes long and there were 5 groups ahead of us. Again, it was a Sunday and this place is VERY family oriented. There is also a science museum type area where you get to try out little experiments and learn about electricity and physics and such.

After the Panasonic Center, we continued our trek towards Diver City by crossing a bridge to what I would later find out is a small island. Right before reaching the bridge, on the bridge and the surrounding areas there were dozens of people in cosplay! They were everywhere taking photos, professionals and amateurs alike. One thing’s for sure though, all the costumes were amazing! We just cruised it through and took a couple of shots. It is a beautiful area with everything from parks, elegant buildings, bridges, water and abstract structures to use as a background. It’s no wonder this seems to be the perfect spot to shoot! We may do a shoot there at some point…

After a few minutes of walking and compulsive picture-taking, we came across Palette Town which is an entertainment center with an amusement park called Megaweb that has access to the iconic Tokyo Bay Big Ferris Wheel, as well as some other rides and attractions for kids. There is also what seemed to be a permanent car exhibition area and the Toyota Showcase where – you guessed it – Toyota vehicles drag race and show off how cool they are. But fret-not ladies! There is also an Outlet Mall - Venus Fort! It was also kind of a mind trip when we ended up in Venus GRAND which looks like an almost exact replica of the Caesar’s Palace in Vegas (see pics below).

After more walking and  picture-taking, we finally made it to Diver City! And there it was, in all its otaku greatness, the Gundam! We took a million pictures and made our way into the mall to find some much-needed food. It was really hard to pick! There were all kinds of options, between buffet, sushi train, yakitori… buffet!, and some pricier options. We went for sushi because, duh. It was pretty great! Kaio is a conveyor-belt sushi restaurant, but it’s huge. not the traditional small bar-go-round type. It was cheap and good and when you special order, a little shinkansen brings your food! kawaii!

We also saw a couple of arcade/amusement halls inside Diver City that we will have to visit sometime soon. They have karaoke, games, bowling and other fun stuff. Round 1 looks super fun! We also took a look inside the Gundam Front, but only the exhibit, you can go in and experience more, but at that point we were starving.

Of course we had to experience the Gundam Cafe so we went back down to the first floor and got ourselves some Gundam Lattes while appreciating the mobile suit.

We found out there is a light show at night at the Gundam so we just explored the area until it was time. We walked over to the bay and admired the view of the rainbow bridge as the sun went down and then when the lights came on. We also got to see the Coca-Cola Christmas light show at Aquacity before heading back to Diver City to get a drink at Wahoo’s (yes, Wahoo’s) while we watched kids – and not so kids – at the rooftop H.L.N.A. Skate Park. Not too many photos of that because the young ones’ parents won’t like a stranger photographing their kid and the older ones, well… Fonzy probably wouldn’t approve of me taking pictures of shirtless, skater white-boys.

Oh! Another otaku jewel we found was the Baratie One Piece restaurant!!! Unfortunately when we found it we had just eaten and it was 15 minutes before they closed. I still managed to take some pics though, and this alone would make me come back to Odaiba! For those who don’t know, Baratie is where Sanji, is one of the main characters, and cook of the Straw Hat crew in the manga and anime One Piece. Also, one of my favorite characters. He cooks and is girl crazy. Anyway, the restaurant looks like a ship and they serve One Piece themed food. It looks amazing! This is in the Fuji TV building where there are also merchandise vendors for other shows and I’m sure a bunch of other entertainment we would’ve seen if we had been there earlier. Everything closes at 6:00 pm (at least on a Sunday) in that particular building.

Then, finally the time to watch the light show came!! There was an anime projection that related to why the Gundam was lighting up and moving and it was awesome! It was about a 15 minute show! I recommend it, whether you’re a fan or not, it’s pretty cool. Fonzy recorded the whole thing, so there’s a video below this gallery!

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We finally called it a night and headed home, until we decided to get off the train at Ginza, where we had never been before since it was early and we were on adventure mode. Fonzy wanted to get a beer and so we walked through the Ginza core, which is like the Rodeo Drive of Tokyo. Everything is designer and super posh. There are a bunch of restaurants – fancy ones for the most part –  but not a bar or izakaya to be found. At least not open where we were looking, and we looked on a couple of streets. I don’t know if it was because it was a Sunday night (it wasn’t even 10:00pm!) or because it’s a posh area but we had no luck. So we walked around and headed back to the train station and then – finally –  home.

It was a long, fun, exhausting day! We really enjoyed ourselves and we barely even spent money! Just on food and transportation. We did and saw a lot, but there was still so much more! There’s even another area we only saw from the distance called Decks that has a Lego land and other such entertainment. We’re definitely going back! Next time, early visit to Fuji TV, Lunch at Baratie, Get our game on at Round 1 and explore Decks! Oh and Aquacity, I think there was stuff we didn’t see there too…

Ok, I’m sure you’ve had enough. I hope you enjoyed the story, pics and found the links useful!

Till next time!

^3^ Chuu~! ♥

リズ